Suggestions for our Official Events? (Ottawa)

Hi all! I’m very much looking forward to seeing whoever can join us tomorrow evening at the wonderful Charlotte lounge on Elgin for our September Official Event. We have 85 people from 41 countries signed up so far – wow!!

Looking ahead, your local InterNations Ambassador team is always keen to learn about good venues we can scout out for our future events. InterNations recommends “A venue with a bit of class, e.g. an upscale bar/hotel/club which has enough room for all InterNations members” and “Exclusivity: If possible, the location should be exclusively reserved for InterNations members. If not, there should at least be an exclusive area or time slot, so all members can identify the InterNations group immediately upon arrival.” “The more room for mixing and mingling the better (bar tables with stools instead of a long table with chairs).”

A big challenge is finding a venue that won’t impose the customary minimum-spend requirement on us, particularly on weekends. This has proven too risky in the past: our Ambassadors have sometimes had to pay out of pocket when our attendees didn’t generate the expected revenue! 😬

Another challenge is offering all members something tangible for their money. The Ambassadors don’t see a penny of your Albatross membership fees; only the fees we charge for the Events themselves. InterNations would like us to keep the events free if possible for the Albatross members, and 10 CAD for Basic and non-members. As you can imagine, that really doesn’t go very far towards supplying appetizers for all attendees at our events! (For this month’s event, the manager of the Charlotte has very kindly allowed me to bring in our appetizers from the nice pizza place around the corner.)

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Please feel free to use the comment box below, or send me a direct message. Better yet, come out tomorrow evening, and let’s talk! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Eric Volstad
InterNations Ottawa volunteer Ambassador
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